📝A note—Many say racist things to me—& some folks don’t like I share precautionary/doom-y COVID data. Some call me a CCP spy, pharma shill, attention seeking personal brand builder… But I’m none of those. Who I really am:🧵
2) I have no publicist, and unlike many “Twitter docs” during the pandemic, I have never paid for one. I have no website, merch store, or YouTube. I only recently started a mini substack—but I barely use it—& I plan to donate any incidental amount I get from it to COVID research.
3) When I tweet—what I think of is all the lives we could save. All the hospitalization suffering. All the PTSD endured by overworked doctors & nurses. All the long COVID sufferers. Sometimes I’m a misunderstood scientist—but that’s okay if it saves lives in a pandemic.
6) Why else do I urge precaution? For immunocompromised kids like @WajahatAli has. I was an immunocompromised kid once upon a time too. I want every kid— including all immunocompromised kids— to survive the pandemic and live to adulthood, Damnit!
7) I truly madly deeply hope we don’t repeat the blasé attitude in Jan 2020 that led us to the pandemic. Sometimes taking the heated attacks is part of the price of warning loudly. Let’s hope we learn from history & not repeat it. Stay precautious & safe. nymag.com/intelligencer/…
8) thank you to everyone who have stayed with me all these years… let’s all help each other stay safe. 🙏
⚠️CDC WEBSITES DELETED—Multiple CDC websites and datasets related to HIV, LGBTQ people, youth health behaviors and more have been removed after the agency was directed to comply with an executive order from President Trump by 5pm deadline. Wildest is taking down even HIV pages!
2) Like, why then hell did the “CAUSES” of HIV even get deleted??? Makes zero sense. Why is Trump WH wanting to block how to stop HIV??? cdc.gov/hiv/causes/ind…
3) also deleted: CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which includes data from a national survey, has disappeared. so have parts of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s Social Vulnerability Index and the Environmental Justice Index.
⚠️Do you wonder why you haven’t heard much about this massive TB outbreak recently? Cuz the CDC can’t hold any press conferences or issue public statements of any kind.
➡️Most of the world 🌎 has been vaccinated against TB… but the US has not, which is now extra vulnerable.
2) For those asking, the majority of the world has used the BCG vaccine against TB… the BCG vaccine also protects against many other bacterial infections too. Up until now, CDC skipped it because US was low risk, and the BCG vaccine leaves a small scar & BCG messes up TB tests.
3) What about drugs for TB? Yes they exist but the problem is that TB often develops drug resistance (the bacteria evolves to evade neutralization). And thus, multi drug resistant TB has become a worldwide issue. That’s why childhood vaccination better. cdc.gov/tb/about/drug-…
⚠️PFAS IS BACK—recall the EPA plan to ban dangerous forever chemicals from drinking water ➡️Well, Trump WH just cancelled it… once again allowing big corporations to discharge PFAS into rivers. PFAS cause cancers & many diseases. Does this make American healthy again?
2) “There really isn’t a system within the human body that isn’t affected by PFAS. They are toxic in many ways, but they’re also very long-lived. They’re designed not to break down in the environment or not to break down to heat and chemical stress.” michiganpublic.org/politics-gover…
3) CDC also just got banned from seeking any advice or input from the WHO — CDC can’t communicate or even enter any WHO building anymore. Perfect way to politically isolate CDC from outside science.
NEW—CDC officially ordered by Trump WH to cease working with the @WHO, effective immediately. This is the first time in almost 77 years since WHO’s founding after World War 2. This is a dark day.
2) the memo said the stop-work policy applied to “all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means — in person or virtual.”
3) It also says @CDCgov staff are not allowed to visit @WHO offices.
CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal
🛑JUST CANCELLED—Trump HHS has just cancelled key meetings of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) & CDC’s Environmental Public Health Threats meeting—➡️all because of Trump WH’s new blackout of all HHS external comms. My god.
2) Trump WH is literally blocking all of this… including all CDC science reports and all FDA public alerts!
NEW—Trump WH has blocked all CDC science reports (eg MMWR) & suspended all CDC / FDA / NIH external communications of all HHS agencies until further notice... including all FDA & CDC Health Alert warnings & all social media. Public health be damned.